A home with a storybook name should be filled with whimsy and warmth.

Guests will find both in abundance when they visit a 4,500-square-foot English Tudor known as Ladybug Cottage during the upcoming Colorado City Opera Guild's L'Esprit de Noel Holiday Home Tour.

Barbara Toltz has opened her home up to interior designers and florists, who have decorated her home for the holidays from the front door to the festive dining room table.

Toltz, who is raising her two young granddaughters after the death of her daughter, Katherine, says it's an ideal home for children.

"I was a widow and Katherine was single," says Toltz, whose daughter died of complications from systemic lupus. When her sons offered to raise their sister's girls, Toltz says she never even considered it.

"We were close friends and it was just natural that the girls would come to live with me."

But the "ladybug" name wasn't inspired by her grandchildren, Emily, 12, and Lucy, 8. Toltz says five years ago, after the death of her husband, Paul Toltz, ladybugs began appearing everywhere.

"Ladybugs symbolize that love goes on beyond life," she says. "They're always around to let me know that love doesn't go away."

Toltz, who bought the property three years ago, has rejuvenated the home, which began life in the 1960s as a French mansard-style white brick house.

"I wanted to update this house, keeping its integrity, without tearing it down," she says. "So many people tear these houses down because they don't know what to do with them. I enjoy design.

"As I looked at the lines of the house, the idea just came to me of making it into a red brick English Tudor, so I had the original brick stained."

Inside, the main floor of the home has been transformed into a modern space with a living room, dining room, sun porch, kitchen and a new library/music room.

The kitchen and the library are open to the flow of the house, Toltz says.

"It's all still very traditional but this gave it an updated floor plan."

Toltz added a masonry fireplace and custom-built bookcases to the step-down living room.

The dining room table holds special meaning. Toltz bought it when Katherine was 2 years old.

"We've held all our family celebrations around it and will continue to do so," she says.

The heart of the home is the music room/library, in which Toltz's passion for cooking is revealed. Once a closed-off family room, the library is now home to a massive cookbook collection.

"I have cooked with many of the cookbook authors," Toltz says. "I started taking classes with Jacques Pepin in the 1980s, and Paul and I traveled to Europe with Jacques and his wife. I also spent a week at Julia Child's cottage in France."

The library, with a baby grand piano, is a favorite gathering place for the inhabitants of the home, as well as for Toltz's six other grandchildren. She maintained the original fireplace as part of the history of the house.

Two small library pub chairs, often reupholstered over the years, are family favorites.

A few other touches from the remodeling pro: Toltz put in dark wood floors and replaced a wrought iron staircase with a wooden one.

Her design touch did not stop at the utility room door.

"Most utility rooms are ugly," she notes, "but you go in and out of that room every day. Mine has red cabinets, Carrera marble, and a tile floor. The color scheme is ladybug red with black. There's also an elevator in there to the morning room on the second floor over the garage."

That room, with its own "juice bar," is a place to relax and read the paper.

Two master bedrooms and a guest room share space with the morning room on the second floor, and she plans to add on another bedroom and bath.

"I will also add a bonus room and mud room on the main level as well as a storage/rec room in the basement," Toltz says.

The extra rooms, she says, will make the home an even better environment for raising the girls.

Making the shift back to being a parent of young children has been wonderful for her, Toltz says.

"But you have to find ways for this transition to occur. You slide right back in, but nuances and timing can be off so it takes a little while. There have been bumps in the road but we're doing fine," Toltz says.

"The girls are extremely well-mannered, articulate, and loving. My biggest challenge is to be as good a mother as was Katherine."

Fancy and festive

To decorate her English Tudor for the holidays and upcoming house tour, Barbara Toltz called on Thomas Avery of Newberry Brothers Greenhouse and Florist, and on Liz Miller and Ronnie Bishop with International Villa. Miller and Paula Newberry-Arnold, Newberry Brothers owner, shared some of their best ideas for your holiday decorating.

* Use real poinsettias and other blooming plants mixed in with your real or artificial garlands.

* Decorate with simple arrangements using one type of flower, such as red roses, mixed in with evergreen boughs.

* Add some ornaments to your vases to create interest.

* Use some of the new LED lights inside the house. They use less energy and are very colorful.

* Create a centerpiece by arranging evergreen boughs and leave the center open so you can fill it with a Christmas cactus, poinsettia or azalea to give it variety.

* Make sure everything you put out is clean and shining.

* Give your table interest beyond flowers. If you're having a Mexican fiesta, throw a serape on the table as part of the decor.

* Use your most beautiful china and crystal.

* For dinner, place a Christmas cracker from England on each plate or by each place setting. They're widely available and very pretty, wrapped in festive foil with ribbons.

If you go:

* What: Central City Opera Guild's L'Esprit de Noel, featuring five homes in the Belcaro Park neighborhood, decorated in the finest holiday style

* Where: Holiday Home Tour and Boutique, 3300 Belcaro Drive

* When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Nov. 21, 22 and 23

* Tickets: $20 or $18 at King Soopers

* Information: 303-292-6700 or centralcityopera. org

Details

* Style of house: English Tudor

* Size: About 4,500 square feet

* Location: Belcaro neighborhood

* Purchased: 2005

* Contractor for renovation: BOA Construction

Back to Top